Hi. We are a design/style LA based company specializing in mixing eclectic styles on moderate budgets. Also we have a strange amount of fun blogging about all our design and style adventures. Right now I’m happy to say that I’m Target’s home spokesperson, bringing accessible/stylish design to the masses.

Target Chapter 7; Navy blue Accent Wall Bedroom Makeover

The 90’s ruined ‘the accent wall’. It just got too wacky and people were putting them everywhere and not following the rules. In fact, maybe there were no ‘accent wall’ rules so people were just running around their house, carrying 4 different paint colors, screaming ‘Paint that wall coral! Paint that wall chocolate-brown! Paint that wall sage!!!’ It became a wacky gimmick instead of an appropriate design decision. But lately it has made a small comeback. A careful, well-thought out, small comeback.

We transformed this bedroom (below) in one afternoon, mainly by adding an accent wall. And I’m pretty into it.

Click through for the whole post.

Here is my rule for accent walls in your room: The architecture of the room has to lend itself to being painted a different color; in other words it can’t be random. Let me explain. Some rooms are obvious – like this one. It’s clearly the focal wall, and it grounds the bed and says ‘Over here! You can do something different over here!’. Very few people would think that either of the other two walls should be painted.

I once even heard an architect say that walls need to end in an accent wall, with no return wall. Meaning that it’s for rooms like this, or niches, random alcoves, etc. I’ve found situations that work that don’t fall in those categories but its a good guide. Also consider this before you paint – would the whole room look better painted? I’ve found this in the case so often with wallpapering – that really the whole room would look better wallpapered instead of the ‘feature’ wall. Often it just looks like you couldn’t afford the whole room, although sometimes the one wallpapered wall in the special space, really works.

Target started selling paints and I remember thinking, ‘great, we’ll look at their colors’. Then they told me that we could choose any colors and it didn’t have to be theirs. So we swatched a lot of our favorite blues and decided that this really was the one that we wanted (and now we are using it in another project). It’s called ‘Compass’ from the Devine collection. If most of you follow me on social media, you’ll know that I love this particular navy blue by Farrow and Ball called Hague Blue, but this is really a close second if you want one that has less green in it and is more gray. It’s like a really blue slate.

Also that rug is so cute, the pouf is awesome and that new Nake Berkus throw on the pouf is wonderful.

Make sure your outfit always matches the color palette of the room. Like so:

Meanwhile on the other side of the room there was a gallery wall.

Naturally, I want to go back in time and straighten some of those (we shoot the still photos REALLY fast after the videos). I love all that art, though. This is the ONE big downfall of the gallery wall. You really need to put blue tacky stuff or gallery wax on the back of the corners so it can’t move, because if they are all totally off kilter they instantly look really amateur, messy and cluttered.

There you have it. A room transformed with an accent wall. Tell me, what are your thoughts about an accent wall? I recently wallpapered my bedroom, but it was so expensive that I only did the headboard wall and I’ve regretted it since that very first day. I wish I had done the whole room (and still may). Sometimes its all you need/want and sometimes the whole room cries out in jealousy. Thoughts?

I usually think accent walls look lazy and non-committal. But since this wall has the horizontal windows only and due the bed orientation, it really works for me surprisingly. Especially with the blue stripe rug. Lovely!

Me too– I guess I say it so often that my husband made me a joke bumper sticker that says “accent walls are for people who can’t commit.” This one doesn’t bother me, but I am generally sticking with my accent wall motto.

Great room! I’m loving that wood sill at the window, especially with the blue/slate wall color. It seems like a great alternative to a drywall sill that gets dinged and dented and dirty (especially if you have an 19-month old that likes to climb on them). And great tip for keeping gallery walls straight – I’ve often wondered if everyone else is adjusting wonky art every two minutes too. I will add sticky stuff to the back!

I’ve been going back on forth on painting an accent wall in my guest bedroom. The bed doesn’t have a headboard, so I thought it might help ground it a bit. I recently saw a photo where they painted the bottom half of a wall in an accent color to act as a faux-headboard. I’m tempted to try it, but half of an accent wall sounds a little crazy…right??

Oh I have major issues with accent walls…first of all most of the time they only look good in mid-century or very modern homes. that is why I think yours looks great, like when there is one vaulted area or a high window on one wall like this. In older homes it rarely works in my opinion. I have seen a few chimney breast areas or like framed out with moulding that looks ok but usually looks better when all walls look the same, Also if you live in a new suburban home please don’t do it. And to the above Charity, I’ve never met another Charity before. Whats up!!!!

BIG YES! Thank you for doing this PSA on accent walls. When we moved into our rental it was double accent wall hell. Country blue on three walls and a warm brown on the 4th in the living room. Two eggplant purple walls and two army green walls in the small backroom, etc. I feel like there should be a licensing requirement for accent walls! (ha!)

That wall invites the accent and the color is so rich! Divine! Two thumbs up.

Every time I see that brass Target lamp that keeps slipping through my fingers it’s like salt in a wound. Such a glorious lamp and I bet the original price was perfect. Then again, if that’s my biggest problem for the day that aint too shabby. 🙂

I love it, it really brings the room together. I like them so long as they work in the space (and there aren’t too many of them around the house). We painted one accent wall in a very boring playroom (inherited cream walls and floors) a dark charcoal gray and it’s just right like that so i am a definite yes in favor of this one.

I am loving this room and am very jealous of those windows!! Big YES to accent walls! I am also thinking about wallpapering one room in our bedroom, but with a textured paper that I could maybe paint… but indecision and zero knowledge is making me panic and not want to do anything. I figure it’s such a big room it needs something to break it up and look more intentional…

I’ve really disliked those one wall painted a different color. They never seemed like an accent for anything but more accident. Emily you have changed my mind and I love this room. I saw one wallpapered wall in a space that I thought looked very nice but it was a small wall in an L shaped room and it was the wall in the dining area which you saw from the living room area. The paper was beautiful, bold, graphic and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It seemed to ground that area as something different. I’m looking forward to seeing how your bedroom looks…..hint, hint!
Do you realize you could be making hoarders out of many of your fans? It has become apparent that if I don’t go right out and purchase certain items; i.e. Target pieces, that they most likely will not be available when you use them again in the future.
I use two picture hangers on my pieces and they mostly remain straight if something doesn’t brush against them. A friend’s parents owned a framing store when she was growing up and she shamed me into doing this but it does work.

Accent walls are like Ph.D level decorating. It is not for the inexperienced or for the “good taste but not trained” level decorator. Just because you’ve pinned it doesn’t mean you can do it. Basically it’s for the pros and even then, only a specific type of house/room and a really good decorator can pull it off.

You pulled it off and you pulled it off well in this room. Really lovely space, styling, use of light, and balance of color. But I think it’s risky business for the rest of us. Best to stick with the basic all walls same color as even that can get into #hotmess territory fast! I’d say for most of us we should put the paint can down and back slowly away from the accent wall.

HA. I love your metaphor and I kind agree. Its tricky and can go back so easily , but its also a really easy mistake and fix. Its just a wall to paint. I guess its whether or not you notice its an actual mistake … xx

This is just a general comment about feature walls in England. They are EVERYWHERE. I’ve been in England for a few years and I have never seen so many feature walls in my life (wallpapered, painted, both). It shouldn’t be a given to add ugly floral wallpaper to a chimney breast. I’m just sayin. Obviously, not every person in England does this, but it is definitely a thing :/

Indeed, they are everywhere in england. I’m from Australia and it is so outdated/neverseen there, but over here, it really is in almost every (regular person’s) home. They are also huge fans of the over sized, hyper-styled floral graphic and then repeating one of the colours in every accessory of the room (see: http://uktv.co.uk/home/item/aid/612582. and i reiterate, i see this regularly).
BUT, the worst i have ever seen, by far, is leather padding (think chesterfields) wallpaper on one half of a hallway. please tell me you feel my pain?

I like it. It makes the room feel a bit moodier and there’s a nice contrast with the light colors of the bed now. I think we’re going to do an accent wall in our bedroom but put it on the wall at the foot of the bed with a line of white-framed art strung across it. Hopefully that falls within the rules! 🙂

I agree, the 90’s were chalk full of accent walls and it became a “thing” that quickly was an eyesore for years to come. Lately I have been a fan of either bright white / light gray rooms, or rooms that have gone fully bold with all over color. At this moment, I am still on the fence on accent, but do love that shade of blue!

Geez, dudes! I’m embarrassed about the fact that I’m considering an accent wall in my living room, but I’m afraid I fall into the “good taste but not a decorator” category. I have a particular design problem in my 100 yo home–the main floor is a long and narrow rectangle. The front third is the entry/sitting room and the next 2/3 is split with half being the kitchen and the other half being the family room. Both the kitchen and family room are narrow. It is SO HARD for me to decorate this big space (10 ft. ceilings) that has to function for our family “hang out” space. I thought an accent wall might be the answer. It’s probably not. Does anyone have advice on what I should do with the narrow kitchen/family room? Thanks in advance!

slim furniture and mirrors?
like emily said, feature walls have to be the wall that is obviously different to its friends. if it’s not different architecturally individual to the other walls, like a receding wall, it’s hard to pull off. if it is long and narrow, i would avoid choosing the long wall. i’d probably choose the small far wall to make it closer and therefore make the room look wider. and if all else fails, paint it back 🙂

Agreed, Emily’s deep accent wall transformed this room from ho-hum pretty to a total knock-out! But accent walls on decor sites should carry a warning label “Don’t try this at home!” Especially in houses with lots of mouldings, which interfere with what should be a clean line between the accent colour and adjacent walls. Crown mouldings at the ceiling will make the wall with the accent colour appear lower than the paler side walls, which visually blend into the crown mouldings and ceiling. Painting the crown moulding the same colour as the accent wall to correct the problem just looks tacky. Maybe accent walls only work in rooms with impeccable architecture?

Really love the blue navy color. I actually don’t have a problem with an accent wall. It depends how you do it. Anyways, I’m liking the Target stuff allot. To bad there isn’t one on my island. More reasons to travel right?!

I love that blue accent wall. I am usually hesitant on accent walls myself since they seemed to get so played out, but we did a rich blue accent wall in our living room as well and it totally changed the room (tried red at first and YUCK. It did not work). Your blue totally adds the interest that was needed; I think the biggest issue with the other version was the light floors in conjunction with the solid light walls. It was just a little too flat. The blue changes all that.

Overall though I love your use of color in this room. The art work is simple and playful too and could be in a kid’s room or an adult’s. Also, that wooden window sill/ledge is amazing.

Hm. I want to like this. I strategically use accent walls in my home, but in one color only – moody matte black. It helps create drama and depth in my pretty blah ranch home.

I just feel like this color is a bit dull, and with the lighting and furniture in that room, it feels like a really nicely decorated dorm room.

I wanted the color to be much darker, or much richer…not sure. The overall effect just isn’t full of life and spark like a typical EH room – so you lose how wonderful the items and styling are. It needs a big brass or rich velvet headboard. Or some stained glass.

I know the point is Target stuff, but y’all, Emily needs to be free. Don’t fence her in, Targ.

I with you, Janet. And I prefer the cushions in the before for the accent wall version too.. the coral/oranges would pop off the blue better than the red and tie in with all the other oranges/blues in the room. Overall a beautiful transformation!

This accent wall looks well thought out and fun!!! In my opinion what makes this really works is your strong color palette and the long horizontal windows behind the bed. This architectural feature (the windows) say HEY, look at me! and it visually and physically connects it to the two white walls on each side. This accent wall is not random at all. beautiful!

I will admit to being slightly obsessed with dark bedrooms at the moment. With that caveat, and in complete agreement that this wall is totally appropriate for an accent wall, I would still love this room more if it were all that beautiful blue. It would bring that feeling of warmth and cosiness all around, set off that gallery wall magically (and that white dresser against it – yum!), and just generally be gorgeous. But it is lovely as is, too. Because everything Emily does is lovely.

Ditto what others have said so far, I’m not usu a fan of accent walls but I think it really works in this room. Beautiful job (as usual) and such a lovely pick-me-up for me today as I’m writing from southern Maine where we are getting HAMMERED by a blizzard! SO much beautiful, white, snow outside, but so awesome to see some great color in this room!! Thanks Emily!! 🙂

First time commenter. This is the BEST. I loved that room before you did the accent wall and *almost* Clipped it for master bedroom inspiration. Now it is perfect and I am going to copy everything you do, as usual.

I like this so much, but then I painted one wall of my living room Hague Blue to hide the TV and to form a backdrop for some giant copper pipe bookshelves, and I love the colour, but I’d add another tip – be careful about painting the wall opposite the window, because then less light reflects back into the room. I am not painting over it because I have built the shelves over it now and they look amazing against the dark wall, but I do worry about having made it darker than it could have been. If I’d picked a wall perpendicular to the window I don’t think this would be such an issue.
Someone above said that you can’t do it with moulding – yes you can. I have high ceilings and moulding and my other three walls, panelling round the window, picture rails and dado rails are a very light blue-grey, and the ceiling and moulding are white and they stand out beautifully. I also painted the skirting boards and doorframes Hague Blue to bring the colour into the room a bit and I love them too, especially the skirtings.

Emily, I have a question – is it possible to do a gallery wall with a dado rail and picture rail? I feel like everything is corralled between the rails and looks a bit squashed.

I was thinking of painting an accent wall in the nursery black… but now I’m afraid that would just look non-committal. Would you paint all four walls of a NURSERY black?! The nursery does get the best light of the entire house… Help a hormonal pregnant lady out, Emily!

I must be slightly OCD because it drives me crazy to have two different wall colors touching each other. I had all the archways in our home framed out in moulding so that the rooms can be different colors.

Great room, again! I was wondering where the actual bed came from and the tufted stool under the desk. I think those were the only two items you didn’t make note of if they were vintage or where you got them.
My husband and I want to do an all navy/dark blue room with pops of white (grey and maybe a pinch of yellow?) because we’ve been there -done that with the accent wall. I don’t know if the contrast will be soothin enough for a bedroom. What do you think?

Yes this accent Wall is fantastic. I don’t agree with your rule or guide about accent walls. I like accent walls and especially since i like the color black for walls. I would probably not paint a whole room black.

Can you explain the “focal wall” sitch? I get that the blue wall is the focal wall, but the other 2 aren’t quiet. It works, but I don’t know why.

I have this problem in my family room. The wood-burning stove is on one wall, the TV on the opposite wall, and the other 2 have seating. I’m stymied on what to do with the wall space over the couches that won’t be boring but also won’t attempt to steal the focus wall’s mojo.

I feel you on accent walls. There’s an office/music space in my house that has a huge, garish yellow accent wall that I painted in concession to my roommates, who were resistant to painting the whole room white. I hate it every time, ack!

Well that settles it. I’ve been waffling on my living room paint situation – three walls (including a huge bay wall with 8 foot windows) are that deep olive that’s making the rounds now, and while it’s a fine color, I am just not a green person. But the wall that leads to the dining room is this beautiful green/deep grey/greige Venetian plaster that looks like colored concrete, and I just haven’t been able to make myself paint over it. The ceilings are coved and there’s a huge archway in the center of the wall… now, I’m thinking, the perfect accent wall. The rest of them can go white, and I can breathe a bit easier.

This looks lovely. I’m with you on Hague Blue being the be-all, end-all, but this is such a beautiful alternative. I love all the grey in it.

Oh, this is timely !! I’m usually not a fan of accent walls, because they look artificial, but in this case, they work so well because of the wonderful shape of the windows.

I’d also like to submit my conundrum regarding painting walls. I have a home office that only has three walls. I mean, two regular walls, then a wall with a huuuuuge window (although facing north), and we knocked down the fourth wall to a small and narrow hallway which had otherwise no natural light. The fourth wall of the home office is actually that of the hallway, leading to the bathroom.

Which walls should I paint ? I want the home office to be clearly defined as not being part of the hallway, and I don’t want to build any kind of wall separation because the home office is a very small room. Should I try and paint the “home office” space one color, and define the hallway with another ? Should I put up a rug to do the job and paint the walls with the same color ? In the part of the hallway that goes on after the home office, I’ve put up a wallpaper that I love. It’s here:http://www.duselauplafond.com/files/6c6196107662300cee9a6cd705cd31bb-284.html
I was thinking about using the blue/green color of the pattern for the office (3 walls), and the off-white to define the hallway. Does that sound like a good idea ?

If anyone is interested by my problem, I can provide photos (even if the home office is a dumping zone right now, welcome to a house in a middle of major reno). Thank you for your ideas, I need them !

I soooo agree that the 90s have ruined accent walls yet I do believe that when properly done (like you’ve done here, you Master) they can really add meaning to a bland room – especially a bedroom, especially when your white bed blurs into the white background and you have not enough texture to make the white on white feel “light and airy and Parisian class”

It’s funny; some friends of mine just bought a new house and the wife asked my opinion on an accent wall. I’m against them in general because they feel dated, but she showed me the wall she wanted and I think it works. I also just had another friend paint over the accent wall in her bedroom because she felt like they were over. 🙂

It’s so interesting to read your thoughts on accent walls. We had our home built about three years ago and due to the fact that I am the sole painter of all of the walls in our home and we have high ceilings, arches and niches all over, I have gone with accent walls with bold colors in nine of the rooms in our home. I have used various blues, red, and purple. Sounds a bit crazy, but we love our accent walls! So nice to see you do one as well!

Love the room. My mom did a floral wallpaper wall in my room when I was a kid…and for years I told everyone that she did it because she could only afford enough wallpaper for one wall. Oops.

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Emily is a stylist, author and T.V. host with a strong commitment to vintage inspired approachable home style for every single person. Perfection is boring; Let’s get weird. learn more

Interior Design Blog by Emily Henderson

I started this interior design blog in 2010 as a journal of my style and home projects with the belief that design should be approachable, informational and accessible no matter what budget.

As a home style expert who has a strong commitment to peeling back the intimidating layers of the world of home decor, and showing how every person can have a beautiful home that represents their personality, no matter what the budget.

After styling for magazines and catalogues for years, I started my own interior design blog, won HGTV Design Star, and have gone on to host my own hit TV show Secrets from a Stylist, Author the book STYLED, and create the design firm Emily Henderson Design.

My motto has always been to write and publish on my blog what I personally want to read about.